[Mr. Incognito]

I am getting confused myself. From the Revenue website it says

What income do I include on my Tax Return?
Your tax assessment is normally based on your actual income arising in the tax year from 1 January to the following 31 December. However, if your income consists of profits from a business, trade, profession or vocation you may opt to prepare your accounts for an accounting period that ends within the tax year. Assessments in respect of any other income i.e. investment income, rental income, foreign pension or foreign salary are all based on the actual income arising in the tax year (i.e. from 1 January to the following 31 December).

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaf...e-pay-file.pdf

Page 14.

Profit Assessable in 2012
This is the amount on which you are assessed for tax. Generally, you are assessable on the adjusted net profit
for the accounting period ending in the year 2012 - e.g. if accounts are normally prepared for a period ending on
30 June, then the assessable profits for 2012 will be the profits of the year ended 30 June 2012.

Sales/Receipts/Turnover - this is gross trading income receivable

I am not an accountant, law and tax are my background so adjusted net profit is a term that I am not qualified to define nor do I prepare income tax computations for sole traders

Receivable appears to include invoices. Can someone with relevant experience clarify?

[Alan Shore]

The profit for the year Is based on invoices issued, so includes debtors at year end.

[Mr. Incognito]

Originally Posted by Alan Shore

The profit for the year Is based on invoices issued, so includes debtors at year end.

Do you have authority for this? I think I may have it here.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/...9/sec0091.html

Section 91(5) points to the earnings basis.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/practitione...sp-it-2-92.pdf

“...the profits or gains of a trade or profession in any period shall be treated as computed by reference to earnings where all credits and liabilities accruing during that period as a consequence of the carrying on of the trade or profession are brought into account in computing those profits or gains for tax purposes, and not otherwise, and “earnings basis” shall be construed accordingly;...”

The earnings basis is obligatory for the first three years of trade.

As I would read that accruing is relevant. Not accrued which would be receipts.

It would seem then to include invoices but after three years you can move to a conventional basis.

[chops018]

Hi all,

Didn't see this sticky at the top when I posted my other thread..

So, I should have all 8 of my FE1's (professional law society exams to be a solicitor) done come October. However, there doesn't seem to be many apprenticeships going around, let alone paid one's - fees are around 12k for the 2 years in Blackhall.

Anyway, I was thinking of doing this:

http://taxinstitute.ie/CareersandCou...ification.aspx

or the Tax technician one.

Much cheaper than the above, and it's at weekends so I could work during it too. Also you have an international qualification at the end of it.

It says, and I've heard, law grads are good for this kind of thing due to looking at legislation and precedent.

However, I am wondering are the other aspects difficult to grasp?

Plus, would it be worth it? Even if when it's done I got offered an apprenticeship to be a Solicitor would the above still benefit me?

Any thoughts on it at all would be appreciated, thanks!

TL;DR - Have a Masters in Law, and hopefully all the FE1's completed come October. Is it a good idea to do the above course? Is it a good professional qualification to have with being a Solicitor or indeed just to have it by itself?

[sky2424]

You haven't once mentioned that your actually interested in tax?! In fact, you didnt show any interest in the qualification itself, didn't even comment on the modules, let alone how the qualification would actually benefit your career path. Look sorry to be harsh but these exams are pretty hard- end of. You sound like your drifting in to them for cost/economical reasons- which doesn't exactly bode well.

By all means sit them if you want- but your post doesn't exactly show commitment.. And if there's one thing you need for these exams it's commitment. I suggest you go look at the pass rates.

All the best

[chops018]

Originally Posted by sky2424

You haven't once mentioned that your actually interested in tax?! In fact, you didnt show any interest in the qualification itself, didn't even comment on the modules, let alone how the qualification would actually benefit your career path. Look sorry to be harsh but these exams are pretty hard- end of. You sound like your drifting in to them for cost/economical reasons- which doesn't exactly bode well.

By all means sit them if you want- but your post doesn't exactly show commitment.. And if there's one thing you need for these exams it's commitment. I suggest you go look at the pass rates.

All the best

No that's no problem at all. I don't mind someone being harsh, once they are not insulting.

I do have an interest in it, not a huge one, but I do in the fact it may further my career in law and then I thought it could be used for a different path if I wanted to go down that route solely.

I've a huge interest in Law and I was wondering would such a qualification be attractive to employers and getting a paid apprenticeship - as I see some of the big Tax firms in Dublin are also the same firms that give out the paid Solicitor apprenticeships.

I'd love to get, and do, any qualification that would make me more employable in any aspect of the working world really. Also I love to better myself in doing such courses. And the above doesn't seem as costly, and it there is a qualification at the end of it, and if it lead to my real passion - law, resulting in a paid apprenticeship then I would be delighted.

Look, I know what you mean. Don't take these things lightly, it isn't overly expensive, but it is costly just the same. I will be finished my professional law exams in October hopefully, and I'll have 5 years to get an apprenticeship after that. Would taking from now till this time next year to see what position I'm in etc. be a good idea, and then reassess the above? Instead of fast tracking into it now and realising this time next year it was possibly a waste of money?

[sky2424]

Originally Posted by chops018

No that's no problem at all. I don't mind someone being harsh, once they are not insulting.

I do have an interest in it, not a huge one, but I do in the fact it may further my career in law and then I thought it could be used for a different path if I wanted to go down that route solely.

I've a huge interest in Law and I was wondering would such a qualification be attractive to employers and getting a paid apprenticeship - as I see some of the big Tax firms in Dublin are also the same firms that give out the paid Solicitor apprenticeships.

I'd love to get, and do, any qualification that would make me more employable in any aspect of the working world really. Also I love to better myself in doing such courses. And the above doesn't seem as costly, and it there is a qualification at the end of it, and if it lead to my real passion - law, resulting in a paid apprenticeship then I would be delighted.

Look, I know what you mean. Don't take these things lightly, it isn't overly expensive, but it is costly just the same. I will be finished my professional law exams in October hopefully, and I'll have 5 years to get an apprenticeship after that. Would taking from now till this time next year to see what position I'm in etc. be a good idea, and then reassess the above? Instead of fast tracking into it now and realising this time next year it was possibly a waste of money?

I understand where your coming from and how difficult it is to get into law these days but I'm not convinced signing up for tax exams just now is the way to go.

I've been involved in the recruitment process for an accountancy firm and its very transparent when a candidate doesn't have a genuine interest in the position at hand. This is even more transparent with the ever increasing number of candidates with a legal background applying half heartedly for tax roles. I know when I interviewed candidates, regardless of how impressive a law graduates background was, if the passion for a career in tax wasn't there then they weren't offered a position.

If you have a genuine interest in tax and want to secure a tax role, then yes signing up for the tax exams will most definitely help you.

If your interest lies firstly in law, and you commit to these tax exams, then you run the risk of any future employer doubting your interest in law and wondering if tax is what your more passionate about (given the financial/personal commitment). You could of course omit this from your CV but then this defeats the purpose of signing up in the first place.

Tbh it depends what type of practice you intend on applying to also. I could probably reconcile the benefit of signing up for these exams if your intending on applying for one of the bigger legal firms who offer rotations- that way you can angle it in your interview that whilst you've an interest in both tax and law and look forward to using your tax knowledge in a tax based rotation, your also interested in exploring rotations in litigation etc. And should you get an permanent offer at the end, then just choose a more tradition legal department. In this instance, tax would help you get in the door initially but possibly allow you to practise in a more traditional legal route long term. Of course, this is the ideal scenario and only you know how realistic your chances of this happening are.

Of course smaller legal practises may have exposure to more general work where someone with both legal and tax knowledge would be appreciated. But are many smaller legal practises hiring?

As for applying for accountancy practises, and as above, I can only speak from my experience but if you dont have an interest in tax right now then it might be best to hold off on this route for a while. In any event I'd imagine it'd be a lot more difficult to transition into law long term. But that's not to rule it out completely. And if applying to legal practises isn't proving fruitful, then this route is definitely one to consider. But do not apply until you have a serious understanding of tax and at least some interest.

As an aside, you might also want to have a look at the AITI syllabus- corporation tax, income tax, indirect tax etc. And forget doing the technician course, wouldn't be of much benefit to you in my opinion.

[NEWBIEGRL8]

Just wondering if anyone is suprised at the marks they were awarded in the April 2013 sitting for Part 2?

I know that there is an information meeting in Dublin with ITI if you have queries or are unhappy with recent results, but i'm down the country so its not feasible for me.

Has anyone previously asked for a re-check and got a pass or is it just a money racket?

Thanks

[gerrykeegan]

Originally Posted by NEWBIEGRL8

Just wondering if anyone is suprised at the marks they were awarded in the April 2013 sitting for Part 2?

I know that there is an information meeting in Dublin with ITI if you have queries or are unhappy with recent results, but i'm down the country so its not feasible for me.

Has anyone previously asked for a re-check and got a pass or is it just a money racket?

Thanks

I applied last year for three re-checks. No change in the marks at all.

[NEWBIEGRL8]

Oh no thats not good at all :-( sent it in anyway

[dustyrip]

Hi

Just checked Part 2 results and the pass rate was 73% for all four papers. Can anyone explain this? It has always been around 50%. Not sure how it can go from a pass rate of 50% to 73%.

I am waiting on Part 3 results in July. I am shocked with the Part 2 results.